


Bats and Supers

by Vivian24L



Series: Flashpoint Rebirth [2]
Category: DC Animated Universe (Timmverse), DCU, Justice League Dark: Apokolips War (2020), Super Sons (Comics)
Genre: Batfamily, Friendship, Gen, Mysterious Past, Mystery, Post-Justice League Dark: Apokolips War, Supers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-30
Updated: 2021-01-29
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:09:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,902
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27277771
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vivian24L/pseuds/Vivian24L
Summary: "Since the League is needed in Atlantis, heroes are spread thin across the U.S. Kate is still on her own solo mission and we still haven’t heard from Duke. Dick’s across the country with the Titans and Stephanie’s at Happy Harbor. Luke’s covering Metropolis, Barbara’s in Burnside. That means you guys will be covering both Gotham and Bludhaven."With the majority of the Justice League in Atlantis, the remaining heroes will need to protect the United States. What happens when Damian is forced to work with the one that destroyed his old home? Who else will join them? Who is opposing them?
Relationships: Jonathan Samuel Kent & Raven & Damian Wayne, Raven & Damian Wayne, Stephanie Brown/Tim Drake
Series: Flashpoint Rebirth [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1990345
Kudos: 23





	1. Enter The Supers

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoy this story. "Bats and Supers" takes place three years after "Flashpoint Rebirth". Parts of Damian and Rachel's past will be . . . revealed.

Clark Kent zipped up his suitcase. He looked up and noticed Lois entering the room. 

“Do you really need to go?” she asked, her face clearly showed concern.

“Don’t worry, honey. We’ll be fine.” His assurance didn’t assure her though. 

“They should stay here, it’s safer. You of all people know what Gotham is like, and you’re planning to leave them there?” she asked, her voice slightly louder.

Clark let out and sigh. “Bruce believes it will help them, help them learn to be a team.”

Lois shook her head. “Just bring them back in one piece,” she said before leaving the room.

Clark remembered his phone call with Bruce Wayne. Bruce was having troubles dealing with his son, Damian. 

* * *

‘He just wouldn’t listen to me. Always off doing something else, sneaking off at night and stealing my vehicles. Three years, I’ve been trying for three years, and he’s still the same,’ Bruce has been ranting through the phone about his troubles. He wanted some parenting advice from Clark, since he also had kids of his own. 

‘Sounds somewhat like a more arrogant version of Rachel and Jonathan,’ Clark had replied. 

Bruce thought for a moment. ‘Arthur called. Says he needs help with something. We’re all needed there, perhaps the kids can learn to work together as one while we’re gone.’ 

Clark considered his idea. It would definitely be better than leaving them to fight villains by themselves. ‘Sure, so Metropolis?’ he asked. 

‘No, Gotham,’ Bruce answered. 

‘Why Gotham?’ Clark asked. 

‘Cause I’m the one with a mansion and a butler.’ 

‘Very well, so next week?’ 

‘Next week,’Bruce confirmed.

* * *

He walked across the hall and knocked on his daughter’s door. “Hey, Rachel? Are you ready?” he asked. There was a low thud and purple light was seen under her door. A few moments later she came out of the room holding her duffel bag, with a backpack swung over her shoulders.

“I’m ready,” she said. Her glasses were slightly skewed and her dress was steaming. He had gotten used to this. Sometimes Rachel would cast the wrong spell or lose control of her powers and something ends up either burning or missing. Clearly Zatanna needs to teach her to control her powers better.

“Okay,” he said, peering into his daughter’s room. He noticed her lamp was missing and the ceiling lights were burned. Looks like Lois will have to buy new ones. He straightened his daughter’s glasses. Rachel didn’t need them, neither did anyone in his family, they were for disguise. “Can you please get Jon, I’ll meet you guys downstairs.”

“Sure thing, Dad,” she answered.

Rachel walked to the door next to her. She knocked, knocking before entering some else’s room was a valued habit to the Kents. “Jon? Are you ready?” she asked. 

Jon swung his door open, holding both of his bags in one hand. “I am ready!” he announced. “Race you downstairs!” he called. 

When Jon got to the kitchen, Rachel was already there, she wore a smirk on her face. “You cheated!” Jon accused.

“You didn’t say we have to use our feet,” Rachel stated, her voice devoid of emotion.

Jon let out an angry huff in defeat.

Clark watched as his children bickered. Raven and Jon were so different yet they got along so well. Jon was an extrovert, he always expresses his thoughts and feelings, and is really outgoing. Raven, on the other hand, keeps to herself and rarely shows any emotion at all.

“Alright kids, gather around,” Clark said.

“I will miss you guys so much, but remember be careful,” Lois warned. 

The children hugged their mother good-bye before Rachel teleported them to the front door of the Wayne Manor.


	2. Enter The Batfam

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You've met the Supers! Now it's time to meet Gotham's famous vigilante and his sidekick (he'll probably give you a side kick for calling him that). Two members of the Batfam isn't enough for me, so let's showcase FIVE members! Wait! Does Alfred count?

“Robin! Get behind me!” Batman ordered. They had been trying to take down Bane, with little luck.

“ _ TT _ , as if I can’t take care of myself,” he retorted as he dodged a punch and grabbed Bane’s bag. 

Batman kicked Bane from behind and knocked him off his feet. He quickly injected Bane with a nerve toxin. The villian let out a gurgled scream before his eyes rolled up and he became limp. 

Robin opened the bag and found bottles of animal venom. “Guess we‘ll have to bring this back to the cave,” he said.

The Dark Knight nodded. He called Commissioner Gordon. 

After turning the man over to Gordon, they hopped into the Bat-mobile. The sun was slowly rising in the east.

They reached the Bat-cave. Batman started to add the details of their encounter with Bane to his files. Robin carried the venom to the lab. He tested each bottle. There were a total of 23 small bottles. Each containing the DNA from a different animal.

“Need some help with that?” A voice came from behind him. Robin recognized that voice, it belonged to Red Robin, or Timothy Drake.

“Drake.”

“Who’d you get these from?” he asked, taking a sip of his coffee. 

“We got it from Bane.” Damian paused. “Why are you here? I thought you’re still tracking down the Joker.”

Tim rubbed his temples. “I was, but I can’t find anything. I just happened to be on my way back when Bruce called.”

Damian raised an eyebrow. “Father . . . called?” 

“I did.” The Dark Knight spun around in his chair.

“Why?” Damian asked.

“I will explain later, when everyone arrives,” he answered.

“Who else is coming?” Robin questioned.

“You’ll see.” Batman glanced at the clock. “We’d better get changed into some civilian clothes, although I would prefer you dress formally for our guests, they’ll be arriving soon.”

Damian nodded and left the cave. He entered his room, finding Alfred the cat sleeping on his bed. He changed into a black suit. 

Thirty minutes later, they were waiting at the steps of the manor. Jason and Cassandra had joined them for breakfast. Jason, who was rarely home, had also gotten a call from Bruce. Cass had recently returned from a mission with Stephanie. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Someone let me know if Alfred is part of the Bat family, please.


	3. Meet Your Team

The family continued to wait. Ten minutes had passed and their guests still hadn’t arrived. Jason had started to complain, Tim was getting irritated from Jason’s complaining, Cass and Damian remained silent.

Another ten minutes had passed before Alfred joined them, bringing with him Tim's coffee.

Suddenly a black dome appeared at the foot of the steps, making a few of them jump. The dome went down revealing a man and two kids. Everyone recognized the man, they’ve seen him without his glasses on. He is Clark Kent the reporter for the Daily Planet. He is also Superman, a member of the Justice League.

However, they didn’t recognize the two kids with him.

“Hello, Clark.” Bruce shook his colleague’s hand in greeting.

“Good morning, Bruce,” Clark said. “Hey guys, how’s it been?” he asked the kids, if you consider 22 year old Jason and 18 year old Tim kids.

“It’s been good,” Jason answered, shaking his hand.

Clark continued to shake everyone’s hand. When he got to Damian, he held out his hand like what he did with everyone else. The Boy Wonder kept his arms to his side, looking from Clark’s extended hand to his face.

“Okay-y . . .” Clark pulled his hand back awkwardly. 

Bruce turned his attention to the children of the Man of Steel. The two kids stood silently watching their exchange. “Welcome to Wayne Manor, you must be Rachel and Jonathan.”

Jonathan nodded, his mouth hung open. 

Damian noticed Rachel and Jon are both taller than him, almost the same size as each other, Rachel was a bit taller. Though they are siblings, they looked nothing alike. Rachel with pale skin, dark purplish blue hair, and indigo colored eyes. Jon has fair colored skin, like his father, messy black hair, and blue eyes. Rachel, however, did look strangely familiar.

Rachel stared back at him, her jaw was tense. She must’ve recognized him too.

Suddenly the memory popped into his mind. The day the League of Assassins was taken down. 

His grandfather had given him and his mother the simple task to watch their prisoner, while he prepared the ritual. They had been hunting her down for over a month. He stood in front of her and gave her his signature glare, she returned the glare. Her purple eyes blazed with fire. Suddenly two more eyes appeared and a black sphere encased her. He quickly unsheathed his katana and slashed at the sphere, but it just broke his weapon. His mother ran to his side and kicked the girl to the ground. The girl let out a scream and dark spikes shot up. The spikes broke through the room and floor. One shot at him, he jumped to the right, two others targeted his mother. They ran out the room, up the stairs and into his grandfather. ‘Grandfather!’ he had said. There was fear in his voice, then again everyone was horrified. ‘Into the mountains,’ his grandfather had ordered. They ran out of Nanda Parbat and into the mountains. The remaining assassins and Al Ghuls regrouped on the side of a cliff overlooking their stronghold. They watched as the ancient building collapsed into a heap of dark smoke. A dark figure of a bird rose from the rubble and disappeared. The smoke cleared to show broken rock and wood, at the center, the Lazarus Pit. 

Now, that same girl, who destroyed his first home, who tried to kill him, is standing right in front of him. Clark must’ve found her after the incident, and adopted her. That would explain why she didn’t have any resemblance to the Kents.

“What are you doing here?” he shot at her.

His father gave him a confused look. “Rachel is here to help with the crime. Since the League is needed in Atlantis, heroes are spread thin across the U.S. Kate is still on her own solo mission and we still haven’t heard from Duke. Dick’s across the country with the Titans and Stephanie’s at Happy Harbor. Luke’s covering Metropolis, Barbara’s in Burnside. That means you guys will be covering both Gotham and Bludhaven.”

The kids nodded.

Clark glanced at his children. Jon seemed fine, but Rachel looked tense. Her hands would balled into fists and her irises started to turn red. She needs someone to help her stay calm.

“Rachel can we talk for a moment?,“ he asked his daughter.

She nodded.

They walked a good ten feet before Clark asked her what was wrong.

“He’s here. He and his grandfather hunted me down for weeks before they caught me,” she said.

“Would you like me to call Kara?’ he asked. His cousin was probably the only other person besides him, Lois, Zatanna, and John that could truly reassure her.

She gave a small nod, her irises returned to their usual purple. “If you could, but I think I’ll be able to handle this.”

They returned to the others. “Would you like me to phone Kara? She’s going to be an extra, flying around, overlooking the whole country for help. Since Gotham and Bludhaven are two tough cities, maybe she should help here?”

“I’m sure they can take care of things. I don’t know much about your kids, but I know they’re strong, and according to their grades, they are pretty smart. Rachel excels in all her advanced classes, and Jonathan’s on top of his classes. According to Zatanna, she also has a great deal of magic and combat skills.”

“Did you seriously do research on my kids?” Clark asked.

“It’s better safe than sorry.” Bruce glanced at Rachel, he didn’t know her complete past, but Zatanna revealed that she has trouble controlling her magic. “We should probably get going now, since everyone is here.” 

Ten minutes later, they were waving good-bye to Superman in the sky, and Batman in the Batwing.

* * *

Shortly after they had left, Alfred took Rachel and Jon’s luggage to their designated rooms.

“I’ll give you a tour of this place,” Tim offered.

Damian went to the Batcave to train. Jason went to the kitchen for some snacks.

The last stop of the tour brought them to the Batcave. Jon watched in fascination as Tim opened the entrance. 

“That’s pretty smart,” Rachel mumbled.

They walked down the steps and into the Batcave. Batman is constantly adding in new equipment to the cave. In one corner, Damian was training with simulation holograms. Jason sat in front of the computer searching up details of Joker’s records. 

“Looking through Joker’s records won’t help, I’ve already gone through them,” Tim said, approaching the computer.

“Hey Rachel! Can we join him?” Jon asked as he pointed to Damian.

Rachel hesitated. “I don’t know . . . “

“Please?” Jon begged with puppy dog eyes.

“Alright,” Rachel gave in.

Jon pulled Rachel towards the simulation and started exploring the panel. He pushed a button, the holograms disappeared. Damian stopped training. He glared daggers at them. 

“Why did you turn it off?” he asked.

“Oops,” Jon mumbled. He hid behind Rachel as Damian approached them.

“We didn’t mean to.” Raven kept her voice even, devoid of emotion.

He studied her. “Father said you are strong, but I don’t see how you can even hold yourself in a fight without your powers.”

“What do you mean by that?” Rachel asked, narrowing her eyes.

“I mean that you rely on your powers so much that once you lose your magic, you’ll be useless, like the Kryptonians with kryptonite,” he explained, his glare unwavering.

“I can defend myself just fine without using my powers.” She was having trouble keeping her cool. 

“Then how about we have a sparring match? You can choose to either use weapons or not,” he proposed.

“Fine.” Rachel walked over to the weapons stand. She carefully examined them. She picked up a katana, it was light, but sturdy. 

Damian grabbed his go-to weapon, his katana. He looked up to see Rachel standing at the center of the training area, also holding a katana. She somehow managed to change from her dress to a leotard. 

They assumed their fighting stances. Damian took note that she stood just like him, legs slightly crouched, both hands around the katana. They charged. She side-stepped his swipe and brought her katana on to him. He countered before he was even able to fully turn around. She kicked him in the stomach, which propelled them both back. His abdomen throbbed in pain, but the Boy Wonder wasn’t going to give up.

Their katanas continued to clash against each other. Jason and Tim had joined Jon on the bench. A few minutes later, Cassandra entered the Batcave. She leaned against the wall and watched as her younger brother fought against the girl.

Damian had managed to knock Rachel’s katana out of her hand. She didn’t stop though, the girl clearly doesn’t give up easily. She dodged as he swung his sword at her, and gave him a kick in the head.

“You beat him! You beat him!” Jon cheered, as he jumped up and down.

“Great job, you really kicked his butt,” Jason complimented her.

“More like, his head,” Tim corrected. He gave Rachel a smile.

“Hey, shortstack! You okay?” Jason called over to Damian, who was putting his katana back on the weapons rack.

“I’m fine,” he growled. Damian was disappointed in himself. Fighting her was like fighting his grandfather. She replicated every one of his moves, as if she was trained like an assassin, but how?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Damian and Raven's origins have been altered, a lot. There will be a separate stories on Raven and Damian's origin. Just haven't had the time to start on Damian's or Raven's, but soon. Soon, the mystery of our two birds will be solved.


	4. My Apologies

He left the cave after that and decided to go to his favorite room in the manor. The library. Damian examined the shelves and picked out a book, then he took his place in the corner of the library. 

Over the years Bruce has added more furniture to the library, since he got there. Now there’s sofas near the windows. More shelves were added along the walls. Along with the added shelves, were added pictures.

He had gotten settled and started reading when the doors to the library opened. It wasn’t opened big, just a little creak. Damian continued reading.  _ It’s probably Drake _ , he thought. 

Thirty minutes had already passed and the person hadn’t left. The door was still opened. Tim had come to the library often, but he never stayed long. Out of curiosity, Damian looked over his book and gazed towards the shelves. No one.   
He continued reading. Maybe Tim had left without closing the door. The thought made him angry. He shut the book and made his way to the shelves. _I need more training_ , he thought as he returned the book to its rightful position on the shelf. He turned and almost jumped. Almost.

“What are you doing here?” He found the girl sitting on the floor reading a rather large book.

She looked up from her book. “I am reading here. I didn’t want to take a seat by the windows in case you were still mad at me, sorry if I disturbed you.” Her words were strained, like she was trying to be apologetic. 

Of course, anyone would’ve thought she was truly sorry, she spoke quickly and kept her tone even. Damian, having been trained in almost everything, could tell she wasn’t sorry. He eyed her suspiciously. He noticed she was wearing a completely different outfit, a black hoodie over jeans and black combat boots, but how was she able to enter without making a sound, the floor was polished wood.

“I can fly and levitate,” she answered. “I’m surprised you didn't know that.”

Damian was surprised. “How did you know what I was thinking?”

“I’m an empath, but reading minds isn’t much of a challenge.” Her indigo eyes burned into his emerald eyes. “I . . . apologize for going into your head,” she stammered, dropping her gaze to the floor.

The boy sat down next to her. He kept his eyes on the bookcase in front of them. “I-I apologize too,” he kept staring at the case. “I’m sorry for what happened three years ago, for what I did in the Swiss Alps.” He turned to face her. 

Rachel was shocked. She didn’t think this boy was capable of apologizing. She felt the sincereness from inside him. “I forgive you,” she said. “Do you forgive me? For what I did to the League of Assassins, for almost killing you and your family, for intruding upon your personal space?”

He locked his eyes with hers. He found her eyes mesmerizing, they seemed to be an endless swirl of blue and purple, yet earlier he recalled seeing them turn red. “I forgive you.”

Rachel gave him a small smile, which he happily returned.

“Have you completely healed?” Damian asked, breaking the silence.

Rachel gave him a confused look.

“I mean, have you completely healed from that wound on your shoulder?” he clarified.

Rachel’s eyebrows arched higher. “Um, there’s a little scar, but other than that, yeah . . . it’s healed,” she answered.

Damian nodded. He’s never felt guilty about hurting anyone before, yet as he gazed into her purple eyes, he felt concerned for her. 

“What about you?” she asked, once again breaking the silence. 

“Grandfather’s still rebuilding the League. He asked me to join him, but I declined.”

Rachel nodded. “Your father’s influence?” she guessed.

“He helped, but I saw the good he was destroying to get to greatness. I suppose I should thank Mother for leaving me with Father,” he explained. “And Kent adopted you?”

“He found me and brought me to the United States. He is legally my adoptive father,” said Rachel.

“So you go by Rachel Kent?”

“No,” she said, looking uncomfortable about the subject. “Rachel Roth-Kent.”

“Roth, was that your biological parents’ surname?” Damian pressed on.

“It was my mother’s surname.” Rachel stared at the floor. “Are you Damian Wayne, now? Or still Damian Al Ghul?”

“When Father filed out the files, he changed my name to Damian Wayne. I’m fine with it, I’m no longer part of the League of Assassins,” he shrugged. A thought suddenly popped into his head. “When we were fighting earlier, you picked a katana as your weapon. Your fighting style was very similar to mine, you're almost as skilled as me.”

“Is that your way of complimenting someone?” Rachel interrupted. She no longer looked upset or uncomfortable, instead she wore a small smirk.

Damian chose to ignore her comment. “Who taught you to fight like that? I know for sure it’s not Kent, he may be strong, but he can’t do anything more than punch when it comes to martial arts.”

Rachel opened her mouth to speak when the door swung completely open. “Rachel? Damian?” the intruder called out.

Damian and Rachel stood up. “Drake, what do you want?” the younger Wayne asked.

“Just letting you know lunch is ready.” Tim narrowed his eyes at them. ”What are you two doing alone in a library, behind a bookcase?”

“We were catching up on our lives,” Rachel answered, her face remained emotionless.

“You’ve met before?” Tim asked.

“That is none of your concern, Drake,” Domain spat. “We will be in the dining room shortly, you go on first,” he ordered.

Tim put up his hands in surrender. “Alright, I’m leaving! Yeesh! Kids these days,” he said as he walked out the door.

Rachel turned to Damian. She looked down at him, they were the same age but he barely even reached her chin. “So . . . do you consider us friends?” she asked, awkwardly.

“I consider us allies, I don’t need any friends,” he said.

Rachel nodded in understanding. “I don’t have many friends, just one.”

Damian raised an eyebrow. “Really? For someone as nice as you, I’d expect you to be surrounded with friends,” he said.

“They’re all scared of me. My friend, Eily, is probably the only brave soul who’ll befriend me. Jon says it might be because I give off bad vibes, whatever that meant,” said Rachel.

“I didn’t sense any bad vibes coming from you, and my senses are higher than the average human,” Damian confirmed.

Rachel gave him a small smile. “We should probably get going,” she said.

Damian nodded. “I’ll lead the way.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed this. This scene was kind of tricky for me to write. Also to help you understand the set up of the library, along on wall, there is a bookcase from floor to ceiling. There are three windows in the room, all on the same wall, at each window are two sofas and a small coffee table in the middle. At the wall opposite of the bookcase is the fireplace and couch. The remaining space on the walls are occupied with photos and paintings of the family. There are also smaller bookcases in rows in the remaining space of the library, near the big bookcase. I hope this isn't too confusing. Also Eily is an OC, based on a real person, and she is a really brave and amazing person, a friend to the world.


	5. Raven’s First Patrol

Robin grappled through the city and landed on top of Wayne Enterprises. There wasn’t much crime in this area. He decided to move to another part of the city, making his way to the docks. That’s when he heard a scream and a few grunts. The Boy Wonder jumped from roof to roof, trying to find the source of the sounds. A particular alley was glowing purple.

Robin observed from the roof. He was surprised to see Black Bat there. He was even more surprised to see Raven there. The girls were taking down a group of people dressed like nuns in red and white.

“Looks like you could use a hand,” he called as he jumped down from the roof and kicked a nun in the face.

Raven encased a group of  _ nuns _ in a dark sphere. “They’re members from the Church of Blood,” she informed.

“Why are they here?” Robin punched one in the stomach and kicked another.

Raven had encased all of the cult members in a dark sphere. “I don’t know, but I can predict something bad will happen.”

“What do we do with them?” asked Cassandra, pointing at Raven’s dark sphere.

Robin opened his mouth to speak, when the sound of a gunshot was heard and Raven crumbled to the ground. Her sphere broke and the cult members were released. Three small orbs dropped from the roof.

Raven let out a grunt, as she swept her hands in front of her. Robin blinked and found himself in the Batcave. Raven was trying to sit up on the ground a few feet away from him. Cass ran to Raven and pushed back her hood. Her pale face was beaded with sweat. Robin searched for the wound. The bullet had hit her leg, slightly below her kneecap. Cassandra picked her up and placed her gently onto a bed. Damian retrieved the tools needed to remove the bullet and stitch the wound.

“Stop!” Rachel placed her hands over her wound. She closed her eyes in concentration. She began to mumble a spell, the first few words were hard to make out. Her eyes glowed white. “Azarath, metrion, zinthos,” those words came out clearly. The bullet flew out of her leg, which immediately started to heal. Soon the only sign of her ever getting hurt was the hole in her tights and a scar on her knee.

Cass examined the wound. “It’s healed,” she concluded.

Rachel swung her legs over the bed. She slowly stood, testing her healed leg. She stumbled slightly, although no one would’ve noticed since her movements were so composed. Unfortunately for her, Cassandra and Damian were assassins, so they noticed. Cass tried to get Rachel into a cast, or at least a crutch. Rachel stubbornly refused. Damian understood that, it would make him look weak if he were to go around with a cast or crutch. 

“I can levitate myself, I’ll get around that way,” Rachel suggested. 

Cassandra gave in and gave her a simple nod. 

“We need to get back to that alley,” Damian brought up. 

“It’s not safe. Someone else was there. They clearly didn’t seem to mind blowing up the cult members. They seemed fine with killing us too,” Rachel concluded.

“They didn’t kill us though. If they did they would’ve gone for all of us, but they only shot you, and in the leg, when they should’ve shot you in the head. Those bombs were also timed, they didn’t go off until after about ten seconds. That was the time given for you to react and teleport us out of there.” Damian began to document this case.

Cass nodded. “It doesn’t make sense. Especially with the Church of Blood operating in Gotham. They’ve never been here before. Something’s not right,” she said. 

“How did you find them?” asked Damian.

“We didn’t,” Rachel replied. “They’ve been following us ever since we passed by Wayne Enterprises. We were able to confront them at that deserted alley. There isn’t anyone in that area so the only lives taken would be the cult members’.”

We’ll go and investigate later. Right now, we’ll rest.” Cassandra left for the changing room in the Batcave.   
Damian spun around in his chair and faced Rachel, who was levitating a few inches off the ground. “I see that you have managed to befriend Cassandra.”

Rachel gave him a questioning nod. “She’s easy to get along with.”

He gave up on the small talk and cut straight to the point. “Have you met them before?” he asked. 

“Who? Cassandra?” she asked.

“No. Have you met the Church of Blood?”

“No, I’ve never met them. I  _ have  _ studied them with John and Zatanna at the House of Mystery,” she answered. 

“They didn’t let you join in on their missions?” 

“Rarely. Dad didn’t want me to get hurt, especially when we’re dealing with the supernatural. I usually spend my time with some of the Sentinels, we would study and train together.”

“That doesn’t explain why you fight so well. Many of them aren’t skilled in martial arts,” the Boy Wonder pointed out.

There was a long silence. Both teens stared into each other's eyes. Cassandra left the changing room, giving both of them an odd look, before leaving. Rachel lifted her hood up, covering the top half of her face. The shadow cast by the hood was so dark, it served as some sort of mask. She turned around and flew after his adoptive sister, still in her uniform. 

Damian let out a sigh. Getting information out of her seems to be harder than he thought. He knows she’s hiding something. Damian thought for a moment. Rachel was taken in by Kent after the incident at the League of Assassins, meaning she’s been living with them for the past few years. The ex-assassin decided to talk to the only other Kent in the Manor, Jonathan Samuel Kent. 

Before he left the Batcave, Damian looked up the files his father created on the Kents. Batman didn’t have much information on Rachel’s past. He let out a  _ “TT” _ in disappointment. Jonathan has the perfect childhood like any other kid, something he secretly envied. 

According to the files Jon has been fighting crime by his father’s side for about a year. Rachel has only made a few appearances in Metropolis, spending most of her time with her two mentors. He was surprised that Rachel had helped the Teen Titans with a sorceress named Jinx. Damian had never considered the Teen Titans as anything more than a band of teenagers with nowhere else to go. Well, with the exception of his oldest adoptive brother Dick Grayson, who had actually put the team together. 

Damian closed the files. He changed out of his uniform and left the cave to find Jon. He realized it was only four in the morning and decided to get some sleep before interrogating the young Kent. As he walked down the hall, he heard noises coming from Rachel’s room. He knew it’s rude to eavesdrop and way below him. Yet, the boy was curious and pressed an ear against the door.

“-fine,” Rachel was saying.

Then he heard his sister’s voice. “What did you see?”

“Nothing. It’s nothing,” Rachel murmured.

“Okay, get some sleep then,” Cass replied softly.

Damian quickly rushed into his room, closing his door as quietly as possible. Cassandra left Rachel’s room a few seconds after he closed his door. She walked down the hall to her own room. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As you can clearly see, they’re origins are different in this timeline. Sorry for the long wait. Merry Christmas!


	6. Morning After

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for taking so long. Fun fact: There were originally two other versions of this chapter. I actually finished this part a few weeks ago, but finally finished editing and proof reading it today. Life, eh. Anyway, hope you enjoy reading.

After getting a few hours of sleep, Damian went to the Batcave to begin his daily training. The first thing he noticed on his way down was that the entrance to the cave was open. The grandfather clock was left slightly ajar. Everyone else would still be asleep at this time. Tim had decided to actually sleep last night and Jason would still be out cold, until ten. Cassandra wouldn’t be up till eight, and it’s only six in the morning. Damian didn’t think it would be the Kents since both their doors were closed, and he didn’t believe they would have the ability to wake up this early. 

Quietly the ex-assassin made his way down the stone steps. He noticed a part of the cave darken, meaning someone was there. He heard whispers, clearly more than one person. Hiding in the shadows, he realized that this is where he kept his pets. He cared about his pets more than anything, and he’s not willing to let a few intruders harm them.

As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he noticed a dark figure a few feet to his right. The figure turned, giving him a good view of their glowing white eyes. Without warning, he ran and tackled them to the ground. Using his knees, he kept them pinned to the ground and had the unknown intruder by the neck. Two hands clawed at his, trying to make him loosen his grip. Then they stopped. Damian’s legs hit the stone ground, and his hands held onto air. He quickly stood up and scanned his surroundings. He turned in a full circle, there were no more eyes, just complete darkness. Then he felt it, something had hit him square in the jaw. Unfortunately for him, he didn’t have enough time to recover for the second blow. Something hit him again, this time behind his legs, knocked him off balance. A boot pushed down at his neck, keeping him from rising. 

“Get the lights!” the intruder ordered. He could tell their voice is female. 

A few bangs were heard as the second intruder went to the light switch. A loud thud followed by a crash, and an exclamation in pain suggested that the other would not be able to turn on the lights.

Without warning she released him and disappeared, as if turning into air. The lights went on a few seconds after he regained his posture. Damian realized that there were no threats in the cave. The ‘intruders’ were the Kents. Raven stood next to the light switch, while Jon was rubbing his forehead. In front of him was a large glass case that Damian kept his snake. A trail of food, cans, and tools lay on the ground. 

Raven glared at him, her irises were red. They immediately softened and returned to their usual shade of purple when she saw his face. She no longer looked angry, but more worried. “I’m so sorry,” apologized the young mage.

Since she had her hood up, Damian couldn’t see the damage done to her neck, but her voice was a bit hoarse. She closed her eyes before a purple aura started to glow around her. 

“Let me heal you,” she said, her voice clearer than before. 

“No,” replied Damian. “I don’t need healing.”

“But you neck-”

“I said, I don’t need to be healed, therefore don’t even try to help me.” He turned and stormed out of the cave. The Boy Wonder had one location set in mind and that was his room.

He went into his bathroom and looked into the mirror. His neck was bruised purple and red where her boot had kept him pinned to the ground. A bruise had formed on his jawline where she had punched him. He let out an annoyed sigh. Angry at himself for not assessing the situation enough before jumping to conclusions. He returned to his room and pulled a black turtleneck from his dresser. He went to check his reflection in the mirror, making sure the bruises on his neck didn’t show, or Tim would be interrogating him on what had happened and Jason would die from laughter. He shrugged off the one on his jawline.

A knock on the door shook him out of his thoughts. He opened the door, surprised to see Jon on the other side, holding a cup of tea.

“Um, hi. Sorry about earlier. Rachel figured you wouldn’t want to see her, so she asked me to bring you this tea,” he said, holding out the warm beverage. 

Damian raised an eyebrow at him.

“I-it’s chamomile tea. If you don’t like it, I’ll ask Rachel to make another kind,” added Jon.

Damian took the tea to stop the younger boy from talking. Unfortunately for him, that didn’t stop Jon. The boy continued rambling his apologies from both him and his sister.

Damian took a sip of the tea and let out a sigh. “I forgive you and your . . . sister,” said Damian. He let Jon inside his room, seeing as the boy had no intentions to leave. Jon’s jaw dropped as he took in the details of his room. Damian didn’t care for how his room appeared, but Kent must’ve been fascinated by the paintings he had painted. 

“Does it hurt a lot?” Jon asked, his gaze still fixated on the canvases. 

Damian raised an eyebrow, waiting for him to clarify.

“Your jaw and your neck,” he said. 

“I’ve been through worse,” said Damian, not wanting to tell the younger boy that his neck felt sore and his jaw was throbbing in pain.

“Did you paint these?” asked Jon as he stood in front of the many paintings hung on his wall.

“Yes.”

“They look amazing! I’m sure Rachel would like them too. Especially that one with the bird,” said Jon pointing at a certain painting.

It was one of the first paintings Damian had painted. A white raven. When he was younger, he would have dreams about ravens. Specifically white ones. After leaving the League, he did some research only to find there were no white ravens. He didn’t know what his dreams meant, but he thought the white ravens were the most beautiful amongst the others. Therefore, the Boy Wonder painted it on canvas, so he could look at it not only when he’s asleep, but also when he’s awake.

“What type of bird is it?” questioned Jon.

“A raven.” 

Jon turned to face the boy in question. “But I thought ravens are black?”

“Although most ravens are black, there is a rare type of white ravens that inhabit the land in Qualicum Beach,” Damian answered.

“It’s kind of ironic,” said Jon, a smile slowly spreading across his face. 

“What?”

“Oh you know. Rachel’s superhero name is Raven, and her suit is all dark and black, like a raven. But I remember her telling me once that where she was from, everyone would wear white,” he explained. “Like how it would be considered rare to see Rae dress in white.”

Damian remained silent, not sure how to respond. Luckily, Jon wasn’t done. Soon the son of Superman began telling him of life in Metropolis and summers in Smallville. “When Dad brought Rae home, I was asleep that night. I didn’t find out till in the morning, I was like ‘Why is there this dark spooky girl in the house?’ and Dad told me she was my sister. I was so happy, I accidentally broke the plate I was holding! She’s always with Ms. Zatanna and Mr. Constantine, though, so I don’t get to spend that much time with her. I remember on her first summer here, we went to Smallville and she helped me fly! Oh! This other time, we went to New Hampshire and hiked up the White Mountains. She was so cold that her powers literally stopped working. Honestly, Rae gets cold when it’s like 50 degrees.” Jon stood by the big window and gazed outside.

Since he had stopped, Damian figured that he was done talking. However, Jon continued.

“That’s a big yard,” he noted. “Why are there animals in the Batcave? Wouldn’t it be better to have them in your yard, where it’s bigger and all? Oh! Are they dangerous and evil? Because they seem pretty nice to me.”

Damian let out a long sigh and took another sip of his tea. “They are my pets. They do spend their time in the yard, although Goliath stays in the cave. Sometimes I’ll take him with me on patrol or missions. Bat-Cow likes to stay in the yard, although there are times where she will go to the cave. Apophis stays in the cave due to his size, I rescued him last week from an underground toxins lab.”

“Um, which one’s Apophis?”

“He’s my snake.”

“I’m sure he’ll be happy to slither amongst the trees.”

“I might let him get some exercise after he’s comfortable here.

“What is that big red creature?” Jon asked.

“You mean Goliath? He’s a dragon-bat. I found him as an infant.”

“That’s so cool!” Jon exclaimed. Since Jon clearly had nothing left to talk about, there was this awkward silence between them. Damian watched him expectantly as if waiting for the boy to either make another comment or leave. He slowly finished the rest of the tea.

A knock at the door broke the silence. Jon sighed in relief as Damian went to answer it.

Raven stood in front of the door. Damian took note that she was still in her uniform. Her cloak covered her whole body, so that it would be impossible to tell that she was levitating. “Alfred wanted me to call you two to breakfast,” said Raven. She quickly turned around and disappeared.

“I hate it when she does that,” Jon mumbled as they made their way to the dining room.

“Hate it when she does what?” asked Damian.

“When we went back to Azarath, she was able to recover a few spell books. I’m pretty sure she learned that teleportation spell from one of those books,” explained the younger boy. “She also told me about this spell that can open portals to-”

“Your shoelaces are untied, Jon.”

Both Jon and Damian nearly jumped out of their skin. They turned around to see Raven standing directly behind them, only a foot away. 

“Raven!” said Jon, putting on a smile, although Damian could tell he was nervous.

“Your shoelaces are untied,” she repeated in the same monotone.

“Right,” said the boy quietly before he bent down and started to tie his shoelaces.

Raven watched him. She crossed her arms under her cloak. “ _I believe you have given away enough information_.” She spoke in his mind.

Jon nodded.

“ _Good. That stays between us. It’s our secret, therefore you won’t tell unless I say you can. Because that’s what a good brother would do, right?”_

“ _Obviously. I’m sorry, I just got carried away_ ,” Jon replied telepathically as he stood up and faced his sister.

Raven’s gaze softened and she gave him a nod in forgiveness. “See you two at breakfast then,” she said, patting both Damian and Jon on the shoulder. She ‘walked’ a few feet in front of them before disappearing again.

Damian had carefully watched the exchange between the two of them. It quickly clicked in his mind that they were communicating to each other telepathically. Clearly Raven didn’t want him to know something, or she wouldn’t have interrupted Jon because of his shoelaces. Speaking of which, he was pretty sure Jon’s shoes were tied when they were walking, or else he would’ve noticed. The Boy Wonder decided not to ask, yet. Especially with Raven still near them. They continued heading to breakfast. Jon acted as if nothing had happened, and began asking him about the decorations and pictures on the walls.


End file.
